Revealed: The private care firm lined up to take over Doncaster Council OAP homes

Rowena House, Old Road, Conisbrough. Picture: Andrew Roe

Published:17:15Thursday 12 February 2015

An Essex based private care business is being lined up to take over Doncaster Council’s old people’s homes.

Doncaster Council has named Runwood Homes as its preferred bidder to take over the running of all seven of its remaining residential care homes for the elderly.

The authority says the firm was identified as a preferred bidder through a tender exercise undertaken to identify a third party provider to transfer the council’s seven residential care homes for older people.

The council had planned to close the homes, but the proposal sparked a public outcry, protesters setting up the Caregate campaign group.

Runwood Homes has 58 care homes nationally.

The homes in Doncaster will be Runwood’s first in Yorkshire. It already runs former local authority care homes in Nottinghamshire, Essex, Thurrock Warwickshire and Hertfordshire.

Identifying a preferred bidder is the first step in the journey to transfer the care homes and over the coming weeks Doncaster Council will be entering into formal negotiations and aiming to finalise the contract. In addition the Council will be working with Runwood Homes to develop a full implementation plan which will include arrangements for transfer of staff.

Over the coming weeks Doncaster Council and Runwood Homes will be arranging a series of meetings with residents and their families, to outline and involve them in their proposed plans moving forward.

Myor Ros Jones said: “This announcement is good news and a real positive step forward towards securing a longer term future for the home, residents and staff.”

Gordon Sanders, chief executive of Runwood, said: “We are committed to working closely with all concerned to ensure that the transfer proceeds as smoothly as possible. In the longer term we have investment proposals that will see the transferred homes brought up to the environmental and space standards now expected.”